A strange feeling is permeating men’s fashion right now. There’s plenty of uncertainty about what the future of menswear holds, and this was palpable at the Spring 2025 shows that took place over the last two weeks in London, Florence, Milan and Paris.
The past few decades have been punctuated by clearly defined and long-lasting moments. The early-to-mid aughts gave us a prep-focused, craftsmanship-driven menswear revival, while the latter aughts saw streetwear rise to the upper echelons of fashion. But currently, things feel in flux; everybody is waiting for the proverbial vibe shift, but nobody quite knows what it will shift to. The quiet luxury moment, which many earmarked as the next big thing, came and went without making a lasting cultural impact — quiet indeed.
So there was no overarching backdrop this season, which perhaps made it all the better to spot true trends. Common elements clearly emerged across the collections — themes too, which referenced ideas of togetherness, and the ways in which we gather as masses of humanity.
It was a notion that was presented differently from designer to designer. In Milan, Prada channeled the rave, while Fendi opted for the country club and Gucci celebrated the communal experience of museums and beaches. In Paris, the Louis Vuitton show at Maison UNESCO referenced themes of humanity and coming together with the Summer Olympics in Paris looming, while Kim Jones emblazoned “for my real friends” on invites (and a sweater) at Dior, drawing many of his high-profile pals — Kate Moss and Robert Pattinson among them — to the front row. Rick Owens sent groups of models down the runway in groups rather than one by one in one of the most celebrated shows of the season, and Dries Van Noten brought everybody together (the reclusive and mysterious Martin Margiela was even rumoured to be there!) for his farewell presentation — who would have missed it?
Still, while uniting people is a great thing, it’s not exactly something that can be replicated when getting dressed. These five major trends coming out of the Spring 2025 menswear collections, however, can be.
Seasonal mashup
Nominally, these were brands’ spring collections on show, and, by and large, the clothes were fit for warm-weather wear. There was, however, a curious concentration of garments and styling one would expect to find in a Fall-Winter collection.
Nowhere was this more eyebrow-raising than at Wales Bonner in Paris, where a pair of autumn-coded leather jackets were on display, including a long black leather trench paired with a Speedo that divided opinions among guests outside the Musée des Arts Décoratifs after the show. Many wondered: Was it summer or was it fall?
It wasn’t the first time that the question had been posed. Earlier, in Milan, Gucci had paired leather trench coats with mesh knit polos, skimpy shorts and leather boots that hit the bottom of models’ calves. Jonathan Anderson’s JW Anderson show opened with cartoonishly oversized insulated jacket liners, followed by swollen knit bombers and bulging hooded leather jackets — all paired with either short bottoms or bare legs. At Juun.J and Bluemarble in Paris, jackets weren’t just oversized, they were thick, too. It felt cooler in the city compared to the last few June fashion weeks, but these looks still felt made for a different season entirely.
Perhaps, with climate change, seasonal collections will be less relevant. Or maybe it’s a tacit acknowledgment that the fashion industry hasn’t quite recovered from the “supply chain issues” that severely delayed shipments. There’s also a more optimistic reading: clothes should transcend seasonality. We, as a collective, shouldn’t be discarding pieces after one season; the goal should be to build a wardrobe that lasts and is versatile enough to transition through the months.
Long short sleeves, short long sleeves
Conversely, a number of designers offered up something that was more fit for slightly warmer weather: short sleeves — but ones that fell somewhere between the elbow and wrist.
They were seen in Milan, where Silvia Venturini Fendi showed the first glimpse of what Fendi will offer during the Roman house’s centenary year. Imagining a country club, with collegiate crests, stripes and colours, the collection featured a number of sport coats and jackets that left models’ forearms exposed.
The following day, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ Prada show included long-sleeved shirts, knits and jackets with sleeves that looked as if they had been shrunk in the wash — inspired in part by the look of clothes borrowed from our parents, which never fit quite right. At Jordanluca, boxy, oversized shirts and shackets featured sleeves cropped at the elbow, rather than mid-bicep.
At Walter Van Beirendonck, faux sleeves flapped in the breeze as models walked, baring forearms — an avant-garde take on the trend befitting the designer. Feng Chen Wang and Hermès both offered knits with dropped shoulders, which gave sleeves a drape that dangled at the elbow.
For Loewe, Jonathan Anderson offered up a conceptual leather jacket with sleeves that hugged the upper reaches of a model’s forearms. Meanwhile, at Ami, a majority of the pieces with typical long sleeves were styled with the sleeves rolled or bunched up around the elbow, offering a blueprint for how to wear the trend by working with a jacket you already own.
In stitches
In the inner sanctum of fashion circles, endearing hand-stitched detailing and embellishment has been enjoying a renaissance. While she didn’t invent it, Emily Adams Bode Aujla helped repopularize it with Bode, tapping into a desire for goods with more craftsmanship and authenticity.
Bigger, legacy luxury houses have seemingly caught on. Both Hermès and Dior showed collections that were rich in embroidered illustrations — florals for both, with some animal motifs for the latter as well. For Hermès, it was part of the house’s focus on drawing for 2025, while Dior’s motifs were the product of a collaboration with ceramist Hylton Nel.
Like Hermès, Fendi has its roots in leather goods and saddle-making to some degree: when making the house’s first bags in 1925, Fendi artisans employed a stitching technique learned from master saddle-makers in Rome. As an homage to the hundredth anniversary of the brand, Fendi’s collection put Selleria stitching at the fore, using it to create pinstripes, pops of contrast and finishing detailing on everything from jackets to trousers to leather goods.
Then there’s Kartik Research. Much like in Bode’s early days, Kartik has developed a small but passionate following and counts influential editors, buyers and other insiders as customers. The spring collection offers up work jackets, shirts and trousers with beautifully intricate embroidered detailing.
Perhaps, as part of the continued evolution of menswear, this is one of streetwear’s lasting influences on the industry: a more refined way to work graphic elements into traditional luxury goods.
See ya, sneakers
One bellwether for the impending vibe shift requires looking toward the floor to see the future as told by footwear. Not long ago, virtually every collection was chock full of sneakers, a byproduct of streetwear’s ascending popularity at the time. That’s no longer the case, with hard-bottomed leather shoes seemingly in vogue for next year.
Even Amiri, whose X-ray inspired sneakers drew swaths of customers ranging from athletes to those who aspire to their luxurious lifestyles, presented a show where sneakers were relatively on the sidelines. Instead, smart penny loafers took the spotlight. At Louis Vuitton, Pharrell undoubtedly has the cultural cachet to make an it sneaker, like his predecessor, Virgil Abloh. Yet he, too, offered up a collection rich in round-toe leather numbers, including boots and an elegant single-strap shoe. The two sneaker styles that did feature were decidedly more sleek than street.
Meanwhile, at Gucci, Sabato De Sarno said that he sought to tap into the unique energy of splitting the summer between the city and the seaside with his collection. Yet the footwear largely consisted of leather boots, which seemed to be at odds with the summery palette and supposed inspiration.
Perhaps nowhere was the trend clearer than at Dior. If Kim Jones rightly receives plaudits, his footwear designer Thibo Denis is a name that looms large in industry circles. In recent years, he has helped make Dior one of the foremost purveyors of luxury sneakers. Yet for Spring 2025, the house’s footwear revolved around the humble clog, transformed into boots and even lace-up dress shoes — studded detailing, bulbous shape and all.
Considering how omnipresent those four brands’ sneakers have been in recent years, the emphasis on more proper and formal footwear feels telling.
Pops of pink
What, pray tell, is the shade of spring 2025?
The Comme des Garçons Shirt show opened with a pink T-shirt layered under a lightweight jacket that also featured pink and purplish pink tones. The rest of the collection was punctuated with more pops of pink — a hoodie here, stripes there, and plaids, knits and sweaters, too. A day prior, the more avant-garde Comme des Garçons Homme Plus collection featured pinks that were brighter and more bold.
In London — before the official start of London Fashion Week — Craig Green’s collection was livened up with pink, with the colour appearing on a playful tractor-print shirt, as well as purple, which featured on the strap of a bag and detailing on garments. There were also mixtures of the two colours on shirts and trousers, as well as his famous rope embellishments.
At Hermès, there were delicate pink dress shirts, and at Louis Vuitton, dusty rose suede jackets embossed with the house’s iconic monogram. Doublet, a younger, more punk brand by contrast, opted for pink on bags, graphics, leather jackets, jeans, elongated T-shirts and more. Kiko Kostadinov — another member of the new guard, but one whose eye is firmly fixed on the future and what it might look like — used a touch of pink in his third look, while the middle part of his collection was done up in various shades of pink and purple, running from dusty to bold.
Dries Van Noten’s spring men’s collection, the final show for the Belgian designer, was suffused with pink, too: on shorts and trench coats in a more eye-catching tone, on trousers and semi-translucent outerwear in a richer shade, and as a delicate base for floral patterns that was almost imperceptibly pink.
